Boys team seeking MSL, district championships

Tuesday

Nov 29, 2011 at 12:01 AMNov 30, 2011 at 8:53 PM

The Columbus Academy boys basketball team capped a successful 2010-11 season by reaching a Division III district final, where the Vikings lost to Heath 62-57 in double overtime in the Fairgrounds Coliseum.

FRANK DIRENNA, ThisWeek Community News

The Columbus Academy boys basketball team capped a successful 2010-11 season by reaching a Division III district final, where the Vikings lost to Heath 62-57 in double overtime in the Fairgrounds Coliseum.

Coach Chris Jones, who is in his 10th season, believes his team has the potential to make a return trip to the Fairgrounds. Academy is seeking its first district title since 2008.

The Vikings open at home against Wellington on Friday, Dec. 2.

Last season, Academy was 17-6 overall and 10-4 in the MSL-Ohio Division.

"I'm looking forward to the season," Jones said. "We've gotten off to a pretty decent start so far. Looking back at last year we had a pretty good team and we only had three seniors (Austin Peterman, Collin Ricker and Jeff Salomon), so we have a lot of experience coming back."

The top returnee is 6-foot-4 senior forward Zach Ratcliff, who led the team in scoring last season at 14.1 points per game and rebounding at 8.8 per contest. He was first-team all-league and second-team all-district.

Also back is 6-0 senior guard Tim Eldridge, who averaged 12.2 points and 5.5 assists. He was first-team all-league and honorable mention all-district.

"If we handle business the way we should, we should be able to do some pretty big things," Jones said. "Having finished where we finished last year in the district final, if we do what we did last year and if we continue to improve, we should at least be able to get back there. We want to compete in the league (and) we want to compete for a district (championship)."

"We have some really great athletes on the team this year," second-year coach Heather Gepper said. "There are a lot of seniors. They have had a lot of success in soccer, field hockey and lacrosse, so hopefully it transfers this year."

Gepper expects a close battle in the league and hopes her team can contend.

"Our goals are to improve upon how we played last season," Gepper said. "All the teams are tough in our conference."

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